Scientist II
"Attempt modifying the portal to harvest resources when travelling. Until you perfect the technique, you will start with '''8000' science but will be unable to research or hire scientists. Choose your upgrades wisely! Clearing 'The Block' (11) with this challenge active will cause you to start with 5 Barns, 5 Sheds, 5 Forges, and T2 Equipment unlocked each time you use your portal."'' Note: More general information about the Scientist challenges can be found here. The Scientist II challenge is unlocked by reaching zone 50 and completing the previous Scientist challenge. The player starts with 8000 science. Rules Gaining research points is fully disabled. The player can't work on science, and Trimps can't be assigned as scientists. The player is limited to an amount of science total until the completion of the challenge. There is absolutely no way to gain additional science until the challenge is completed. Once the challenge is completed, all of the disabled functionality is unlocked, and scientists are unlocked again as a possible jobs, as well as missing Speedscience awarded. If the challenge Slow was completed, the tier II prestige upgrades for the new equipment are unlocked as well. Having the prestige upgrades unlocked does not allow you to buy the equipment at the start of the run. You must still find Shield, Dagger, Boots, etc. by defeating imps in the starting zones. Strategy The strategy to completing Scientist II is mostly the same as Scientist. The reward for this challenge is a minor convenience upgrade. As such, it is not essential to do it as early as possible. For those that would like a template, I was able to complete this challenge with the following setup as of 10-19-2015: Battle Bloodlust Miners Trainers Coordinationx6 (last should cost 928, total 3188) Tier 2 Shield Tier 2 Boots Tier 2 Pants Trainers isn't strictly necessary, as this setup goes for straight HP over block, since you won't have great block until after the challenge is completed. With 20 in the toughness perk, 20 levels of each T2 equipment (pants/shield/boots), and 10 levels in each other armor, you're at 121k HP already, enough to survive the hardest hitting fast attack snimps in The Block. Make sure you have enough map fragments to build a level 8 map for the pants upgrade. -- A different approach from the former, which works as of 12/16/18 The rationale here is that the breastplate is significantly better than the combination of shield, boots, and pants; Shield: 54/level (1200 Science) Boots: 82/level (1300 Science) Pants: 190/level (1600 Science) Sum: 190+82+54 = 326/level (4100 Science) Breastplate: 476/level (1900 Science) Thus, you can have more coordinations, and an easier run, with the following build: Battle - 10 science Bloodlust - 60 science Miners - 60 science Coordinationx8 (250+325+422+549+714+928+1206+1568) - 5962 science Tier 2 Breastplate - 1900 science Sum: 7992 science This should leave you with 8 science left over. You'll only need around level 13 of the T2 breastplate, which should be easier to hit than the 20s in the previous approach. Dumping a bunch of helium into toughness (mine was 19) is still highly recommended. Category:Challenges